Any A40 Users??

[Jade]

Hi - I'm a new member- learning to use my Powershot A40.
I just found this forum today and would like to compare notes with other A40 users.

Jade

[bmwracer]

Hi Jade!

It's me from the A-Series board....

Fancy meeting you here.... :)

Mike (bmwracer)

[Jade]

Hi Mike!!! Nice that there is another board. Maybe we'll have some A40 users join us.

For now - it's you and me, Bud.. *S*

Jade

[cypro]

Hi Jade and bmwracer,

Count me in. Just found this board while surfing, and easily spot both of your names

cypro

[Jade]

Good to see you cypro!!

Hoping everyone has a wonderful 4th of July.

Jade

[djanggo]

count me in....satisfied with my A40

[Conk]

Just joined. Haven't even had a chance to check out the site. Just got my new A40. So far so good.
This is my 5th digital camera. I keep upgrading.

[stcj]

Hi, I just found this forum tonight. I am new to digital cameras, this is my second one. My first digital camera was a Vivitar 2775 (640x320). I got my A40 because of the features like movie mode, 2 mega pixel and I think I want to try to take better pics. I hope the people on this forum can help me up the learning curve. One question I have, at this time, is "How do I connect my .avi's together?"
I love the jpeg quality using the Zoom Browser. However, I just started a web site for my family. When I "click" on the pics, the jpegs view too large to see the entire pic on the monitor. Do I take my pics with lesser quality or do I have to save them differantly. I look fwd to gaining knowledge from other users.
Thanks for your help, here is the link to my site (don't laugh, I'm learning)

http://home.attbi.com/~stcj

P.S.
the home page pic was taken with the Vivitar 2775.

[Conk]

I think you should be able to edit the AVI. files together with the Arcsoft Videoimpressions software that came with your A40.
As far as your web pictures being too large you would probably either want to do one of a couple things.
1) You could take the original pictures at a lower pixel setting or
2) What I do is take the pictures at high image but reduce the size by either cropping the picture or resizing using the editing program.
There may be other ways and opinions but they are the only ones I'm aware of. I'm fairly new at the game too.
Nice family by the way.

[Rustle]

Here's a couple of posts that might help you. The first one was a short discussion about image sizes for Web sites.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3631

And the second is about methods for downsizing images:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3982

Cheers,

Russ

[stcj]

Thanks for you replys. The Arcsoft software contains Videoimpression 1.6 software. This program apears to be able to connect avi's. However, the program lock up my computer. My comp is a 1.0 Gig P3, 256 RAM, 30 Gig/7200rpm HD. looks like I might have to tweek something, but what?
I tried to resize a pic and I posted it on my site in both sizes. The only differance is the image quality, not the size of the pic. I have read the posts from the above links. I quess I will have to do some more experimenting.

[type3]

When resizing pics I use irfanview. It is a cinch to use and came as freeware with a pc mag. It gives you options for various sizes ad successfully reduces file size to a manageable level quickly.

It also has an excellent slide viewer and has various editing functions.

[Saint]

I picked up my A40 yesterday. I like it very much so far. I like taking dozens of pics and not burning any film. Yesterday I took 60 pics and kept 11.

I also purchased a battery charger and 8 NiHi batteries.

[BCFidler]

Howdy folks!
I'm new to digicams and the A40 is my first. Love the camera, hate the software. It's been one page fault after another with Zoombrowser and the TWAIN drivers don't seem to be working either (missing files and such being reported). Hopefully bypassing everything altogether and using a CF reader instead will allow me to get my pics loaded to the 'puter. Otherwise... :(

[brutal]

thats funny, I was doing a google search for some parts and came across this site. I too am a member of the powershot-a user group :)

[cocque]

I have the same problem too, i havent been able to load my photos onto the computer.....it shows the driver as being installed, i have windows 98se.

[nuno]

Hi guys ! I am from Portugal and i bought a Powershot on last monday ! It is a great camera !

I have connected the camera to a TV set and it is spectacular !

When i bought the camera my package only have arcsoft software ! Where can i get photostich to make panoramic photos ?

Does anyone have this canon program ?

[cifangao]

Hi, I am also new to this forum. and A40 is my cam. i like it.

As to Nuno's question, i bought the cam in Japan. The package contains 2 CDs. one is the software including drivers, photostitch, etc. the other is the arcsoft. i have installed cam on 98, 2k and xp. (i have all three os on my desktop). no problem during installation at all. Actually, the first CD contains two sets of drivers, TWAIN and WIA. One is for 98 and 2K, the other is for ME and XP. If you don't have the proper driver, just go to Canon's website and you can easily find it. only make sure which set of driver you need.

[Treebeard]

For beginning photo editing and resizing etc I suggest Adobe Photoshop Elements. It is cheap (I paid 50 euros) for it and for the beginner it has what you need to correct and prepare your pics for output without the color seperation and professional tools (and price) that a full Photoshop has.

If you are in for the long haul with photos and graphics then Photoshop is the way to go.

Regards,

Tony

[Xizor]

I just got my A40 a couple of days ago. I'm liking it so far. What other forums are you guys talking about?

[PotretMan]

I purchased A40 last week. I am a complete b00b about photography.

I found a few online short courses about digital photography and am going to go thru them to learn about shutter speed, aperture, etc.

Here's my question:
When i connect A40 to the computer, MS imaging would automatically run and display the images. If i click on each image to select it, a lower right window would list the camera setting when the image was taken (shutter speeds, aperture, etc). What I want to do is to have both the images and their settings transferred to my computer for me to study later. How do I do this?

Thanks.

[Jade]

PotretMan wrote:
I purchased A40 last week. I am a complete b00b about photography.

I found a few online short courses about digital photography and am going to go thru them to learn about shutter speed, aperture, etc.

Here's my question:
When i connect A40 to the computer, MS imaging would automatically run and display the images. If i click on each image to select it, a lower right window would list the camera setting when the image was taken (shutter speeds, aperture, etc). What I want to do is to have both the images and their settings transferred to my computer for me to study later. How do I do this?

Thanks.

I use ZoomBrowser and a card reader. I just drag/drop from my card reader into the different folders that I created. I can copy/paste the camera settings to whereever I want or just leave them with my pix to study when I want to .

You can set ZoomBrowser to your favorite photo editor too. I use PSP7 and click the pix I want to edit. They will drag and drop from the card reader into PSP7 also.

Different people use different soft ware - just passing along what my choice is.
Jade

[Jade]

nuno wrote:
Hi guys ! I am from Portugal and i bought a Powershot on last monday ! It is a great camera !

I have connected the camera to a TV set and it is spectacular !

When i bought the camera my package only have arcsoft software ! Where can i get photostich to make panoramic photos ?

Does anyone have this canon program ?



PhotoStitch is software that comes on your A40 CD.

Jade

[Jade]

stcj wrote:
Hi, I just found this forum tonight. I am new to digital cameras, this is my second one. My first digital camera was a Vivitar 2775 (640x320). I got my A40 because of the features like movie mode, 2 mega pixel and I think I want to try to take better pics. I hope the people on this forum can help me up the learning curve. One question I have, at this time, is "How do I connect my .avi's together?"
I love the jpeg quality using the Zoom Browser. However, I just started a web site for my family. When I "click" on the pics, the jpegs view too large to see the entire pic on the monitor. Do I take my pics with lesser quality or do I have to save them differantly. I look fwd to gaining knowledge from other users.
Thanks for your help, here is the link to my site (don't laugh, I'm learning)

http://home.attbi.com/~stcj

P.S.
the home page pic was taken with the Vivitar 2775.


You have a nice photo album going!! As far as ZoomBrowser - You can set it to take your pix to your favorite photo editor - Photoshop/PSP7, etc. to crop - size or whatever.

How are you doing it now?? I notice you have one you call a poor quality and one a good quality - both from ZoomBrowser. What did you do with each one??

Jade

[stcj]

HI, Thanks for your comments. From the "Zoom Browser" I did a "save as" to my desktop. This allows me to save with hi or low quality. Unfortunatly it did not change the size of the pic. I up dated my site using the "photostitch" software. It came out pretty good, but it would look a lot better if I used a tripod. check it out. BTW I love the fack that I can view jpegs and play the avi's with sound on a TV. This camera is making look like a genius :)

[Jade]

stcj wrote:
HI, Thanks for your comments. From the "Zoom Browser" I did a "save as" to my desktop. This allows me to save with hi or low quality. Unfortunatly it did not change the size of the pic. I up dated my site using the "photostitch" software. It came out pretty good, but it would look a lot better if I used a tripod. check it out. BTW I love the fack that I can view jpegs and play the avi's with sound on a TV. This camera is making look like a genius :)

About ZoomBrowser- if you right click on an image- choose Export - Choose Output Size - Choose Color or B&W - Export to your Canon ZoomBrowser Folder on C or D drive (or wherever you have it). All your pictures are there.

On your HomePage - did you use the Publishing Resources to create your personal page? They have Templates, Tutorials, etc that should give you help about sizing your pictures. I am not a member - so I can't see what they offer - but take the Personal Web Pages Tour on your site and see what they have.

The Photostitch is used for making Panoramic scenes - when you take a group of photos all in a row and then stitch them together to make one long view of the area you snapped. I don't think you would use it for individual shots though.

Hope this helps.

Jade

[stcj]

Thanks for your help jade. Using the "Export" program worked great. The jpegs are the size I want to make them, at the resolusion I choose. Give me a day or five :) and I will re-do my site. Look at the photostitch pic. My truck is the grey Toyota. Look how well the program "morphed" the differant angles I shot the pics. I think it worked well even though I was not consistant in my angles. Oh ya, from now on I will proof read my posts :)

[Jade]

Checked your page again. Thanks for the credit!!! Happy that the Export worked for you.

I looked at your Pano of the truck. When you shoot those - Hold your arms & cam very still and turn your body from left to right as you pan the scene. When you PhotoStitch them - after they are all lined up - use the crop tool and make it straight across the top & across the bottom. I felt like I was on a roller-coaster ride. :eyes

Jade

[Dingo]

Greetings All. Not only am I new member to owning an A40 (about a week now - and already 150 shots of the farm and dogs), but new to Forums in general. Great camera (so far) .
Anyone know what the differences are in the Compression modes? The high compression gives a lot more pictures, but do you lose out on much quality. I haven't had the time yet to devise a test pattern to see what happens.
All the best.

[Conk]

Dingo wrote:
Greetings All. Not only am I new member to owning an A40 (about a week now - and already 150 shots of the farm and dogs), but new to Forums in general. Great camera (so far) .
Anyone know what the differences are in the Compression modes? The high compression gives a lot more pictures, but do you lose out on much quality. I haven't had the time yet to devise a test pattern to see what happens.
All the best.

The more you compress the less quality.
If you have lots of memory, use superfine compression and the highest pixel setting for the best quality.

[Bartman]

I too have an A40 and I have a question? How do I upload any AVI files back to my camera (flashcard) with Zoom browser. The upload of pictures is going well, but I can't upload any AVI movies I taken earlier with my camera!!!

[jfht]

Hi!

I'm PS A40 user for about 3 months.

I want to buy a 256MB CF.
Is there any one using one of that kind?

Is there any trouble or the CF 256MB only needs to be Type I?

I really want to buy 128MB, but in the portuguese market I can only find 256MB for about 3 months...

Thank you!

[Conk]

go for it!

[stcj]

Bartman, I also tried to upload AVI's to the camera. It didn't work for me. Sandisk makes a compact flash/smartmedia card reader/writer, this should work for you. It costs $25.95, here is a link to "Compuplus". I got mine from them.
You can also get 128 and 256 MB compact flash chips there too.


http://209.185.240.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=b40c5693c0d099804cf9ab458666094d&lat=1031350470&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ecompuplus%2ecom

[stcj]

Sorry, that link didn't work. Try this one


http://www.compuplus.com/insidepage.php3?sid=535673vu189ysc5&id=300

[Bing01]

Hey hey!

I love my new A-40. You can make videos too. Great!

[stcj]

Try photo-stitch, it's cool too!

[Osku]

Just bought my first digicam (PS A40) yesterday. And I'm totally hooked...

Can't wait to get home.

[stcj]

Why wait til you get home? Put the battery's in the camera and start shooting!

[Jade]

I was surpised at how long the batteries that came with the camera lasted. I bought the
rechargeables (they should be charged more than once to get up to speed) and was waiting
for the originals to die out.

My originals never did die out and I just finally took them out to put the rechargeables in.

Good luck with your new toy!!

Jade

[stcj]

I got rechargables a week ago. They are still sitting in the charger. I am also waiting for my alkiline batterys to die.

[Ryuhei]

OOP's meant to post my A40 webcam enquiry here. Another question! I want to send video with an e-mail, what is the most efficient way of filming,compressing and sending? thanks..... ryuhei

[kork]

You can only make movies of max. 20 sec.

[anfrey]

hello there everyone! i have also recently purchased an A40 and am new to photography in general... well, at least when it comes to the technical aspect. i've always like taking photos of pretty much anything and everything, but now i'm yearning to learn how to capture what i see with my eyes on a photograph, which doesn't really happen if i'm just pointing-and-shooting. are there any good online resources for learning these things? the only one i've found so far is photographytips.com...

anyway, the a40 is a great camera, and agreed, the zoombrowser program is a POS. i'm going to be giving breezebrowser a shot tonight. glad to know there's other A40 owners out there. btw, what are these other forums that have been mentioned? so far this is the only canon digicam forum i've been able to find. can any of you steer me in the right direction? thanks!

[Conk]

anfrey wrote:
hello there everyone! i have also recently purchased an A40 and am new to photography in general... well, at least when it comes to the technical aspect. i've always like taking photos of pretty much anything and everything, but now i'm yearning to learn how to capture what i see with my eyes on a photograph, which doesn't really happen if i'm just pointing-and-shooting. are there any good online resources for learning these things? the only one i've found so far is photographytips.com...

anyway, the a40 is a great camera, and agreed, the zoombrowser program is a POS. i'm going to be giving breezebrowser a shot tonight. glad to know there's other A40 owners out there. btw, what are these other forums that have been mentioned? so far this is the only canon digicam forum i've been able to find. can any of you steer me in the right direction? thanks!

There are generally lots of tips available from users on this forum. Usually when a certain topic arises someone will give some helpful tips. It's all a matter of frequenting this site. What I like to do when someone posts a URL to a site on photography tips is to put the links in a folder to visit them later.
Here are a few to get you started.

http://www.shortcourses.com/editing/
http://www.shortcourses.com/
http://www.carlvolk.com/
Here also is another site that some user frequent from here,
http://www.fredmiranda.com/

Enjoy your new A40 and hope to see some photo's soon!

[Cyrus]

I have had an A40 for a few weeks now and decided to purchase the 2.4 tele-converter lense. After trying it out I am less than satisifed with the result. When I zoom into something (max zoom) the picture is less than perfect, very pixely and out of focus. Is there a rule that I'm not aware of that says I should use manual focus with the converter or is that just how the pics turn out?

Looking forward to hearing from anybody else who has used the converter.

Cheers
Cyrus

P.S. Very cool board!

[Conk]

You absolutely should use a tripod. The more you zoom the more steady you need to be.

[martlee]

are there anyone who's using a case that can fit a 4pack batteries and a additional CF card.

[Conk]

martlee wrote:
are there anyone who's using a case that can fit a 4pack batteries and a additional CF card.

Absolutely.
This is the one I use. Inexpensive too.

http://www.lowepro.com/pages/series/zseries/miniz10.htm

[stcj]

I use a Samsonite camera case. There are three pockets in it. The first is a thin mess pocket on the front of the case. The second pocket is big enough to hold four "AA"s, a spare memory card and the TV cable. The third pocket is for the camera, it is a little big for the A40. It will fit an A40 and one "D" cell battery (if you wanted it to). I put a pic of it on my site.

http://home.attbi.com/~stcj/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html

[chewbacca13]

stcj wrote:
My comp is a 1.0 Gig P3, 256 RAM, 30 Gig/7200rpm HD. looks like I might have to tweek something, but what?



if your pc can take more RAM put more in...maybe upgrade graphics card?

[chewbacca13]

kork wrote:
You can only make movies of max. 20 sec.


Hi, would a bigger CF card take more than 20 seconds or is 20 seconds what the camera limits you to?

(i don't own an a40 but want to learn more about it)

[Conk]

chewbacca13 wrote:
kork wrote:
You can only make movies of max. 20 sec.


Hi, would a bigger CF card take more than 20 seconds or is 20 seconds what the camera limits you to?

(i don't own an a40 but want to learn more about it)

No it would not. It has to do with the camera's internal memory before it writes the info to the CF card.

[Theo]

Jade wrote:
Hi - I'm a new member- learning to use my Powershot A40.
I just found this forum today and would like to compare notes with other A40 users.

Jade

Hi Jade!

I had my A40 for 6 months now and Love it!! I've taken 2500+ pics and have had wonderful results!

I created a "Webshots" portfolio with 80% of the pics from the A40! The other 20% I used my new super Zoom the Canon Pro90IS.

http://community.webshots.com/user/torretab

Good Luck and have Fun with your A40!

Ted

[stcj]

Theo, nice job on your web site. Very nice choice of pics too. I am a handyman also, I liked the pics of the tools. Oh ya, the sunset pics are great too :)
Do you think the A40 passed the image quality test, I do. Your kids look simillar to famous people. Eminem, Michelle Branch and Venessa Carlton.
The current pics on my site are from my old camera. A Vivitar (640x380?). I am constantly changing pics.

[cmanly]

Conk wrote:
martlee wrote:
are there anyone who's using a case that can fit a 4pack batteries and a additional CF card.

Absolutely.
This is the one I use. Inexpensive too.

http://www.lowepro.com/pages/series/zseries/miniz10.htm


try the Canon PCS 20 Case -- $6-10 and fits your description

[cat_photo]

Conk wrote:
Just joined. Haven't even had a chance to check out the site. Just got my new A40. So far so good.
This is my 5th digital camera. I keep upgrading.


Conk, I checked out your photo's and they are GREAT!!

Question: for the Flowers & Bugs, did you use a special closeup lens or did you use the macro feature??

Thanx !!

(also, anything else special you did to get those great closeups?)

[Conk]

cat_photo wrote:
Conk wrote:
Just joined. Haven't even had a chance to check out the site. Just got my new A40. So far so good.
This is my 5th digital camera. I keep upgrading.


Conk, I checked out your photo's and they are GREAT!!

Question: for the Flowers & Bugs, did you use a special closeup lens or did you use the macro feature??

Thanx !!

(also, anything else special you did to get those great closeups?)


Thanks for the flattering comments Cat.
I just used the macro feature on the A40 and took a lot of photo's. Believe me not all were so great. Practice practice.
If you like mine so much then the G2 macro's should blow you away as they do me. As far as I'm concerned the G2 is second to none when it comes to macro photo's.
If Santa beleives I'm a good boy then maybe I'll get the adapter and macro lense for Christmas.:D

[cat_photo]

Well Conk, I am sold then on the Canon A40. I was looking at your EXIF info, and I must admit, being a total novice, I barely understand it, but if you did those photos with that camera, then why buy a special add-on macro lense? To get even closer?

thanx,
Cat

PS: please don't take down that site before I buy my camera! (I will be analysing all those EXIF settings for sure, hehe)

[Conk]

Thanx again cat.
That album isn't going anywhere. If you get a chance search out the word "macro" in pbase.com. You should find some interresting photo's.
An add on macro lense will allow for way more detail. I beleive the A40 only allows for me to get within 10 inches.
Hurry, get your digicam, get addicted and return promptly!

[tomx15]

I've been using the A40 for about a month. The picture quality is very good to excellent only in portrait mode. What I mean is if your subject can stand still for 10 seconds you'll get a great picture.

If you are chasing children around trying to get that perfect pic or at a party, for get about it with this camera. The fact that you have to push the shutter half way down, wait for the camera to focus then press fully means you will miss many, many shots. Nothing beats the speed of a film camera for shutter reaction. I can pull out my old Minolta XG-M from 1985 and it will scream around this camera.

If it wasn't for this issue (which you'll find that you won't like either), it would be a great camera.

Am I the only one experiencing this with A40? If not, please respond.

[stcj]

Most of the time I have no problem, but a couple of times I've pressed the shutter button and wonder "what the heck is the camera waiting for?" I have missed some pics because of this, but I still think this camera is great.

[woozy]

Hello,

Just want to say that this is a great forum to find things about about digital photography.

I have a Canon A40 myself. Love the quality of the pictures. Disappointment was it takes 4 AA batteries instead of the usual 2 AA.

Will be making my web photo gallery soon once I take more holiday pictures. hehehe.

[JonMarchant]

Got my A40 a few weeks ago and love it :)

Bit disappointed you can't load movies back into the CF card
for display on TV using ZoomBrowser, but thanks to this forum
I now know you can use card readers/writers to do the same
thing - the only difficulty is finding a UK stockist as usual :eyes

Anyone know of software that can do this without having to
buy a dedicated reader/writer? I'm about to try BreezeBrowser
but haven't seen any blurb on that site about writing movies
back to the camera.

Thanks :)

[Laurie]

Hi all,
I've had my A40 for about 2 weeks now. This is my 1st digital camera. I pondered for a long time on which brand and model to buy. I am so addicted to the immediate gratification of seeing my pics as soon as they are taken and being able to delete them if I don't like them. I am so glad to find a forum that is dedicated to using this particular model and other great Canon cameras.

Laurie

[DCHATTEN]

No, add me to the list. I have been using the camera now for about 3 weeks, and for the most part I have been happy. Then over the weekend I went to a play and hardly any of the action shots came out. I placed a post out there for tips when taking actions pictures.

I'm going to take the advise that I found since making the post, and that is play with each setting until you find one that works - assuming I can. Somebody in one of the photo clubs posted this: Try using the Manual mode - use a high shutter speed like 1/10 of a second, and see what happens.

Best Regards,
Dan

[Frunobulax]

After a great deal of research, I got my A40 about a week ago and am pleased with it so far. This is my first digital camera, but the learning curve isn't *too* steep. I still need to learn more about the manual features, but it sure is nice being able to experiment without wasting film. I bought a four-pack of NiMHs and a one-hour charger for the camera as well.

As far as panoramas go, PhotoStitch seems pretty good, but I get consistently better results with Panorama Factory from Smoky City Design.

[agentz]

JonMarchant wrote:
Got my A40 a few weeks ago and love it :)

Bit disappointed you can't load movies back into the CF card
for display on TV using ZoomBrowser, but thanks to this forum
I now know you can use card readers/writers to do the same
thing - the only difficulty is finding a UK stockist as usual :eyes

Anyone know of software that can do this without having to
buy a dedicated reader/writer? I'm about to try BreezeBrowser
but haven't seen any blurb on that site about writing movies
back to the camera.

Thanks :)


I use the Smartdisk 6 in 1 USB reader at work and I think I'll get one for home too. Can be purchased in the UK from Microwarehouse for about £30 - http://www.microwarehouse.co.uk/product.asp?sku=E434313

Anyhow, hi everyone, just stumbled on in here and I've had my A40 for less than a fortnight. I bought one just before new year after doing a fair amount of research - I wanted something fairly basic that I can more or less carry around with me all the time to just snap off some shots as the mood takes me and for that I reckon the A40 is ideal.

I've taken something like 300 pics so far and I'm just starting to poke around with the manual settings to see what else I can make this thing do.

I'm using Mac OSX 10.2.3 and have found that iPhoto is fine for getting the images off the camera and then into Photoshop 7. I've also installed the supplied stuff onto my PC running 2k Pro and am using Photoshop Elements to tweak images.

I'm trying to sort out a photo album in my webspace just now - I'll add it to my profile once I get it sorted out.

As a slight aside, has anyone got any experience with Canon's tech support? When I went to install the software on my PC the CD with the Arcserve stuff on it was damaged out of the box - two parallel scores on the disk and a dent at one edge for all the world like it got jammed in the duplicator and someone grabbed with with pliers and yanked it out. I registered with Canon UK's online support and raised a support request on January 6th asking about how I can obtain a duplicate CD and as of now I've still not had any feedback either on their website or via email/telephone whatever.

[Lbar]

I got my A40 3 days ago. This is my very first camera, digital or otherwise but i'm serious about taking up photography. I found the A40 had a very good write up and it has seemed very well deserved from my use.
I don't yet have a decent set of batteries and the supplied alkalines died in no time what-so-ever, but he 30-odd pictures i took in that time are very impressive. I only took two at full quality until i upgrade the 8MB CF card which does seem a little too small even for an entry level camera. But the low quality shots are good too.
The last time i used a digital camera it was a coolpix 900 (not mine) which seems very dated now by comparison to my A40. :)

[Frunobulax]

The investment in a larger memory card (I bought a 128M) and a set of NiMH batteries with charger is definitely worth it.

[ulan25]

tomx15 wrote:

If you are chasing children around trying to get that perfect pic or at a party, for get about it with this camera. The fact that you have to push the shutter half way down, wait for the camera to focus then press fully means you will miss many, many shots. Nothing beats the speed of a film camera for shutter reaction.

I know what you mean. I've had the A40 for a month also, and that's my one complaint about it. This is my first digital camera, coming from a totally manual SLR set-up (Nikon FM10).

One time I tried taking a shot of my friend jumping into the air, and I had to press the shutter first AND THEN yell GO!

But, other than this, I'm ok with the A40. I won't give up my SLR, though, of course. ;)